


Take a Breath

by lunarpaddle



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 07, Sisters, but it was in my head and it had to get out, now its out, this isn't edited nearly enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:00:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25914004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarpaddle/pseuds/lunarpaddle
Summary: "Elena goes to put something in the microwave, and it fritzes, sparks, and mildly explodes. Daisy sighs.“Kora!” she yells as Elena reappears on the other side of the room from the now burnt out microwave. “Have you been overcharging the microwave again?”There’s a thump and footsteps from their room next door, and then Kora peeks her head into the kitchen.“It cooks things quicker! And it’s not like it does any harm – ““Does that look like an unharmed machine!” Elena exclaims.“You probably just pressed the wrong button,” Kora replies."A series of snippets of Daisy and Kora bonding over the year before they head into space.
Relationships: Skye | Daisy Johnson & Kora, Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa
Comments: 10
Kudos: 132





	Take a Breath

Things are…fragile, at first.

Fitzsimmons go off to take some time to themselves with Alya, Coulson takes off to explore the world, and the rest of them end up in an abandoned S.H.I.E.L.D. facility they hadn’t even known about until Mack noticed it being targeted by the Chronicoms (they all agree that the Lighthouse is just too closed in and full of bad memories – they needed somewhere to breathe).

There’s so few of them right now that they all have their own rooms – Daisy’s has big windows and a nice view and she sits on her bed and just lets her guard down for a while when she gets there. She doesn’t really have anything to unpack, no special possessions, no real wardrobe even (unless you counted all the period clothing they’d collected). It felt wrong – it felt like who she used to be, sad and lonely and terrified of settling down, and she wasn’t that person anymore but everything had just been so busy – 

She looks around her room, empty but bright, and she thinks about how scared she used to be, and then she looks at Kora and thinks, God. 

Because Kora’s still there. She’s been locked up for years, mistreated by Jia-ying with the best of intentions, and then by Malick with the opposite, and she still had the bravery to turn around and do the right thing and God, Daisy doesn’t know how she started caring so much so quickly but she looks at Kora and it’s like looking into a mirror, and she never thought she’d get to have that.

So she invites Kora to stay in her room, and she frowns and mutters something about not needing looking after but she takes her up on it anyway, and they drag Kora’s bed through the corridors and get stuck going round a corner and end up having to get Mack to come and help them – 

(“Aren’t you supposed to be an engineer?” Kora asks as she watches him struggle. “Isn’t this supposed to be your whole thing?”

“I – I’m a mechanic, not an engineer, and aren’t you two supposed to have superpowers you could use for this or something?” Mack grouses, but he’s smiling, and Kora is too, a little bit.)

\- and eventually they set her up in Daisy’s room, beds on opposite walls, and she could swear she’s never felt so bright inside.

\---

Daisy’s perched up on the side in the communal kitchen, chatting to Elena as she makes herself food – they’ve just gotten back from working on the as yet unnamed new Inhuman initiative, talking to a few existing activist groups about power management and training. It’s exhausting work, and she’s starving, but Sousa’s taking her out for dinner in a bit so she contents herself with a packet of crisps whilst she waits.

Elena goes to put something in the microwave, and it fritzes, sparks, and mildly explodes. Daisy sighs.

“Kora!” she yells as Elena reappears on the other side of the room from the now burnt out microwave. “Have you been overcharging the microwave again?”

There’s a thump and footsteps from their room next door, and then Kora peeks her head into the kitchen.

“It cooks things quicker! And it’s not like it does any harm – “

“Does that look like an unharmed machine!” Elena exclaims.

“You probably just pressed the wrong button,” Kora replies, and Daisy has to speak up before this descends into a full argument.

“You can’t overcharge the communal kitchen stuff, Kora, you can buy your own microwave if it’s that important to you.” 

“I can do what I want!” Kora replies.

“You little – “ Elena begins to yell.

“Actually, you can’t,” Daisy cuts her off, “I’m your big sister, you have to do as I say.”

“I – that’s not true! I was born before you, anyway, so technically – “

“Technically, I was in my 30s in the 1920s, so – “ 

“That wasn’t even in this timeline!” Kora snaps, but she’s got that look in her eye now that Daisy knows means she’s kinda having fun.

“Yeah, well, you’re not from this timeline, so – my timeline, my rules.”

Kora stares at her, eyes sparkling and trying not to smile, and walks off back to their room.

“Fine, I’ll buy myself a microwave – but you’re not allowed to use it!” She calls back behind her before shutting the door.

\---

“You’ll be back later, yeah?” Daisy asks, wrapping her arms around Daniel.

“Yeah,” he replies, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “we can watch a movie or something? You keep saying I need to watch this Star Wars stuff if we’re going to space together.”

“Mmhm,” she grins, “I’m gonna make so many references, you’ll be lost if you haven’t watched them all.”

“Sounds like a plan then,” he replies, extricating himself from her arms and heading towards the door. “You two have a nice evening, I’ll see you both later.”

Kora grunts and doesn’t look up from her book – Daniel just grins, winks at Daisy, and leaves.

“You two are so gross,” Kora says, putting her book down. “How is anyone related to me in a relationship with someone so…boring?”

Daisy smiles. “I dunno what to tell you, Kora. He makes me really happy.”

Kora sticks her tongue out her mouth and mimes vomiting.

“I just – don’t you want, like, a soulmate? Something thrilling, and challenging, that makes you wanna laugh and cry and take the entire world and make it right just for them –“ Kora cuts herself off, and tears begin to come to her eyes as she stares back down at her book.

Daisy has already killed Nathaniel Malick once, but moments like this make her want to steal a time drive just to go back and do it again.

“I’ve had love like that – love that feels all-consuming, all-changing. Maybe that works for some people –“

“Jemma and Leo seem to manage it,” Kora says.

“Yeah,” she smiles, “they do. But I don’t think that’s right for me. Everything in my life is already so high stakes – we’re always off saving the world or fighting for our lives or whatever, and Daniel’s just – we’re just nice, and simple, and calm. We hang out, and we look after eachother, and it’s all just…nice.”

Kora nods, at that, and looks thoughtful.

“I’m not saying that’s the same for you – Nathaniel was a shit bag, and you deserve to have a whole amazing epic love story with someone who’s as awesome as you if that’s what you want. I think wanting this kinda relationship’s just a getting older thing, probably.” 

That makes Kora snort.

“I, uh. I don’t know if I really loved Nathaniel like that. I mean, I felt like I was supposed to, and he definitely wanted me to, and he’d just freed me so I had this whole mix of gratitude and obligation and – but like, it always grossed me out when he kissed me, and he tried to have sex with me this one time and I had to make up an excuse and run away, and uh – “ Kora pauses, and looks more vulnerable than Daisy’s seen her since the days just after everything happened.

“You know Medusa, right? You met her when we were trying to set up the Inhuman court at Afterlife, get things back up and running there.” 

Kora nods.

“Me and her kinda had a thing, once. Back when I was doing the whole Quake thing, on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D. and all that.” 

“You – oh!” Kora’s eyes are wide as she realises what Daisy is trying to tell her. “But – Sousa?”

“I’m bi,” Daisy says, “so I can be into pretty much everyone. Damn, did Mom ever even give you the talk? I guess it wouldn’t have featured this stuff back in the 70s anyway, huh.”

“Probably not,” Kora grins, looking a bit more confident now. “I don’t think I’m – I think it’s probably just girls, for me. There’s this girl, she’s always in the gym at the same time as me and she, she’s said hi and stuff a couple time, and um. Yeah.”

“Oh, I see,” Daisy laughs, “so that’s why you’re always so grossed out by me and Daniel.”

“I – that’s not – “ Kora glares back at her. “Fuck you.”

Daisy just smirks and quakes her book lightly into her face.

\---

“I swear, when I get out of these stupid cuffs there won’t be anything left of you but a pile of ashes!” Kora bites out, desperately trying to pry herself free.

“There is no escape from those cuffs,” Bella replies. “I didn’t survive the fall to earth just to be undone by a stupid mistake like that. I’m going to take your power, just the way Nathaniel showed me, and then I’m going to kill you for betraying him, and then I’m going to drown the world in blood and death just as he would have wanted.”

“God,” Kora says, “how did I not realise how cliché we were?”

Her ex-teammate/comrade/fellow cultist approached her, needle in hand, and as much as she refused to show it she was terrified – she hadn’t been conscious for this last time and she still had nightmares about it, she didn’t want to go through this again, she didn’t want to die, she didn’t – 

The ground rumbles, and Bella stops in her tracks.

“Nathaniel?” she whispers to herself, and Kora cackles.

“Nope,” she says, “that’ll be my sister.”

The wall behind her bursts outwards, shards of rock embedding themselves into every surface, bouncing off a vibrational shield that’s sprung into existence around her. She can’t see Daisy behind her, but she can feel her, pulse after pulse of force washing into the room around her.

Kora used to think she was powerful, used to think Nathaniel was powerful. This is the second time now that she’s seen Daisy unleash anything close to her full power, and she thinks she might be unstoppable.

“Who the fuck are you,” says Daisy, “and what the fuck are you doing to my little sister?”

Bella cowers and ends up in cuffs, and agents drag her away as Kora explains the whole thing, and Daisy scolds her for leaving the base without telling anyone, and Kora almost goes to correct Daisy on the whole little sister thing, but – 

But honestly, even if it’ll be years before she can say it out loud, she doesn’t mind being looked after by Daisy. She doesn’t mind the protectiveness or the scolding or the teasing. She doesn’t even mind having to put up with Daisy’s annoying old-man boyfriend.

Kora loves her big sister, after all, and she can’t wait to get to know her even better.


End file.
